Now that BTV 1 is imported into
the Netherlands it is clear that extra measures are urgently needed. Measures
already taken against importing animal diseases are apparently insufficient. The
inspection authorities are always one step behind or cannot get a grip on the
complicated networks of trade contacts and transport movements. NBvH therefore
urges the Ministry of Agriculture (LNV) and Parliament to step
in.

NBvH is very concerned about the
role that the trade sector plays in importing animal diseases. These diseases
‘globalise’ more and more. Animal transports go to and from all places in the
world, while the system gets less and less transparent. "Now it is bluetongue,
before it was tuberculosis, tomorrow it might be foot and mouth again or swine
fever," says secretary Christine Bijl in reaction to the news of finding BTV 1
in a cow that came to the Netherlands from France through Belgium. "It is
alarming that it has been in the country for a month before the infection was
found. Also alarming is the fact that the other animal could not be traced
immediately. Apparently not only the transport surveillance fails - how can a
cow from the BTV 1 area in France end up in the Netherlands? - but also the so
jubilated I&R system for bovines has failed." Bijl points out that the
continuous threat of animal diseases has a very negative effect for the whole
hobby and small-scale sector. "Hobby holders suffer for the consequences. They
participate in vaccination campaigns, pay from their own pockets and in the mean
time a new virus type enters the country through commercial trading. The joy of
keeping animals will rapidly vanish if this goes on."